Improvement in portable railway-tracks



J. MORGAN, Jr. Portable Railway Track.

No. 213,923. Patented April 1, 1879.

INVBNTOR ATTORNEYS.

N4 PETERS. PHO10-| i'r HGRAFMER, WASHINGTON, D G

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JOSEPH MORGAN, J R., OF WILMINGTON DELAWARE, ASSIGN OR TO WILLIAM SELLERS AND JOHN SELLERS, JR, OF PHILADELPHIA, PA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE RAILWAY-TRACKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 213,923, dated April 1, 1879; application filed January 31, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osEPH MORGAN, Jr., of Wilmington, in the county of New Castle and State of Delaware, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Portable Railroad- Tracks, of which the following is a specification:

Figure l is a top view of a portion of my improved track. Fig. 2 is avertical longitudinal section of the same, taken through the line a: so, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end view of a section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The object of this invention is to furnish an improved portable railway which shall be simple in construction and convenient in use, forming a reliable and firm track.

The invention consists in combining shoes made of channel-shaped iron with rail-sections and supporting-blocks in such manner as to lock the sections securely together, so as to form a reliable and firm track, and so that any desired section can be laid in position or taken up with facility, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

A represents the tie-bars, which may be made of flat, T, angle, channel, or other shaped iron. B are the rails, which may be of any desired weight,'and which may be secured to the ties A by round, flat, square, conical, T, or hook headed rivets, according as the rails B are punched or slotted. G are the shoes, which are made of channel-shaped iron, with the channel of such a size as to receive the base of the rails B, and which are attached preferably to the alternate ends of the rails of each section, each channel shoe extending backward from the end of its rail beyond the first or end cross-tie, so that the shoe, this end cross-tie, and the rail can be riveted together.

The flanges of the shoes 0 upon the inner sides of the rails are cut down, if required, ac-

cording to the height of the rails, so as to be out of the way of the flanges of the wheels.

The web of the channel-shoe iron at the projecting end of each shoe O is out out, as shown in Fig. 1, leaving a bearing from one to two inches long for the end of the rail of the adjacent section to rest upon the web of the said shoe, while the flanges project far enough to rest upon the tie-bar of the said adjacent section.

The piece 0 of web cut from the channelshoe or a raising-piece of iron or steel corresponding in size thereto is riveted between the rail and the end cross-tie of the adjacent section, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, so that the rail of this adjacent section will be raised above its end cross-tie the same height as the rail which is provided with the shoe is raised above its end cross-tie, and so that the channel-shoe may pass over the two end cross-ties of adjacent sections and .maintain their relative positions vertically, while the projecting ends of these channel-shoes will embrace the raising-piece 0 under the rail of the adjacent section, and thereby lock the whole laterally.

With this construction, when the adjacent ends of two sections of the track are raised at an angle, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, the cuts in the ends of the shoes 0 will allow the ends of the rails of one section to drop through, so that the other section may be readily taken out.

Having thus describedm y invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The combination of the channel-shaped shoe 0, the raising-piece c, and the rail, the combination being and operating substantially as described.

JOS. MORGAN, JR. Witnesses:

W. W. DOUGHERTY, JOSEPH MORGAN, Sr. 

